Congress workers clash with police over Land Acquisition Bill

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh participating in ‘Kisan-Mazdoor Padayatra’ at Pothahi near Patna on Tuesday. Congress workers clashed with the police during a protest outside the Punjab Assembly in Chandigarh on Tuesday too against the Land Acquisition Bill.- Photo: Ranjeet Kumar

Workers of the Punjab Congress clashed with the police here on Tuesday while protesting against the Land Acquisition Bill. The police had to resort to use of water canons to prevent them from marching to the Assembly and some protesters and police personnel sustained minor injuries in the melee.

The Congress had earlier on March 19 given a call to gherao the Assembly. Its activists led by Punjab unit president Partap Singh Bajwa held the protest march in keeping with the party’s stand on opposing the Bill being pushed by the BJP Government at the Centre.

Addressing the protesters, Mr. Bajwa said farmers of Punjab were opposed to the changes being introduced in the Land Acquisition Bill now.

He said it was the Congress-led UPA government which had brought this land acquisition law to protect the interests of the farms but through the new amendments, the BJP Government was seeking to dilute those provisions which protect the rights of the land owners.

Mr. Bajwa also accused the Shiromani Akali Dal of supporting the BJP on this issue in Parliament and charged that its stance has exposed its claims of being a saviour of the farmers.

Declaring that the Congress will not let the Centre take away a single inch of land belonging to the farmers anywhere in the country, Mr. Bajwa said the farmers of Punjab will also not forgive Prime Minister Modi and Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal for what they have done.